Auld Lang Syne
by Swordy Rides Again
Summary: An unfortunate turn of events leave Dee and Ryo with nothing better to do than reminisce about New Years gone by.


**Author's note – A little late, but never mind! Hope you still enjoy it the same. Happy New Year everyone! – Swordy**

**Summary: An unfortunate turn of events leave Dee and Ryo with nothing better to do than reminisce about New Years gone by.**

**Auld Lang Syne**

Under any other circumstances, Ryo would have stopped what he was doing, turned to his lover in disbelief and pointed out that stating the obvious was as useless as it was annoying. Under _these_ circumstances however, he'd just have to grit his teeth and live with the fact that Dee telling him that he needed to 'run faster' wasn't really going to help them catch the fleeing suspect. The other thing that bugged him slightly was that despite Dee's twenty a day habit, he remained the faster runner of the two and was easily outpacing him as they hurtled hell for leather after the man that they'd just seen picking pockets at the public New Year's celebrations they were policing.

Pushing himself as fast as his lungs and legs would allow, he watched his lover racing ahead and pictured his handsome face set in grim but determined lines. 'Lightfoot Latener' as he was known around the precinct wouldn't be about to lose out to some teenage kleptomaniac. It was a pride thing, Ryo knew, but if pride was what helped Dee reach the necessary speed to catch up with a thief some ten, fifteen years their junior then who was he to argue?

He winced as Dee crashed through an unexpectedly deep puddle, his lover's misfortune allowing him to avoid it before he met a similarly soggy fate. The noise of the crowd faded as their quarry took them away from the well-lit areas of the city, determined to make his escape. The purse he'd snatched had long since been dropped, but that bought him nothing with two men that had caught him in the act of removing it from its distracted owner. A rent in a high chain-link that skirted the perimeter of darkened building provided the youth with an exit in an otherwise dead-end and he shimmied through it, catching and ripping his flimsy nylon jacket. Unfortunately for his pursuers, it didn't slow him any.

Dee was next through the gap. His clothes met a similar fate, and he mentally cursed as he realised that it had been a mistake to wear his favourite jacket, as Ryo, with an eerie sense of foresight, had warned when they were dressing for the evening of plain clothes work. All we need now is three for three, Dee thought, recalling that Ryo was wearing a shirt that Rose had once bought him as a supposed 'thank you' for his work on a case. Never mind that _he'd_ worked on the same case.

The building surrounded by the damaged perimeter fence turned out to be a warehouse and the two detectives weren't sure whether to be pleased or not when their quarry made a dart for an open side door. The place was obviously huge, but the upside was that it could turn out to be a dead end where they could trap him. Dee plunged into the building, his eyes forced to make a rapid adjustment in the poor light as he skidded to a stop. Sound location proved impossible with Ryo's footsteps rapidly approaching behind him and he took the moment to catch his breath. Still standing just inside the open doorway, Ryo nearly barrelled into him, at the last second catching himself before it was too late.

"Have we lost him?" Ryo panted, barely able to make out Dee's face in the murk.

The shake of his head was even less obvious. "Hope not. I can't see an escape route so he's probably gone to ground in here, hoping we won't bother looking for him." He grinned. "Little does he know that we've got fuck-all better to be doing tonight."

Ryo made a face. "And who's fault is that?"

The grin was replaced by a scowl. "Just because I didn't wanna go to JJ's stupid party? Jesus, am I ever gonna hear the end of this?"

"Come on," Ryo replied, clicking on his flashlight and pointedly refusing to answer his lover's question. "Let's find the perp so we can get out of here."

It was impossible to tell what the abandoned warehouse had been used for, but it was thick with a cloying dust that forced the men to cover their noses and mouths as they swept the ground floor with the powerful beams of their flashlights. They were beginning to suspect that the thief had found an alternative exit when a noise from behind gave them renewed hope. Ryo led the way, the two detectives moving as quietly as they could, hoping to catch a clue to where he was hiding.

Dee heard it first – and suddenly he was running in the direction he had caught the movement. Ryo was hard after him, and in the beams of their flashlights they saw their prey breaking cover.

There was every chance Dee would have caught up with him if the floor beneath his feet hadn't suddenly given way. Suddenly he was falling, but not for long as he hit the floor below, the wind leaving his lungs with an audible 'oof'. Ryo met a similar fate, although his fall was cushioned as he landed on the man he would normally have no complaint about being on top of.

Ryo's voice was strident and slightly panicked as he rolled off his lover, ignoring the pain in his ribs.

"Dee? _Dee? _Are you okay?"

Force to refill his lungs with the musty air, Dee coughed several times before he choked out the words, "Yeah. A little flatter than I was before, but I'm okay."

"Are you hurt?" Ryo asked.

The question was a little premature, since his priority had been breathing rather than a self assessment of which part of him hurt the most. Now the most important task had been dealt with, he concentrated on moving his limbs, concluding that he had been incredibly lucky.

"Think I'm okay. What about you?"

"Ribs don't feel too good. I think I landed on your knee."

"Well, yeah you did. I just didn't wanna hurt your feelings."

"Thanks." Ryo coughed, then groaned at the resulting pain.

"Stay still," Dee instructed as he shuffled over to his lover and helped him unbutton his shirt. Careful examination of his chest revealed the beginnings of what would surely be a spectacular bruise, but amazingly, his ribs did not appear to be broken. They lay still for a moment, both catching their breath, before Dee broke the silence.

"I think we lost our suspect."

Ryo contemplated telling Dee that he really needed to stop stating the obvious, before he nodded slowly, his jaw set in an expression somewhere between pain and annoyance.

"Does your flashlight still work?" he asked, nodding towards the item lying close to his lover's head. He watched as Dee reached for it and switched it on, the powerful beam joining Ryo's and instantly lighting up their surroundings. A quick scan of the basement room they were in revealed a door, although it was clear that it hadn't been used in a long time.

"I'll get it," Dee announced, seeing Ryo still had his arms gingerly wrapped around his body. Frowning at the dusty, dirty wreck of his clothing, he made to stand up – and promptly fell again as soon as he transferred his weight to the leg Ryo had landed on. "Ah, fuck!"

"What is it?"

"My knee. I think it's twisted."

"Sorry."

Dee managed a grin. "Don't apologise. There's no one else in the world I'd rather have ruin my basketball career than you."

Ryo made a face, but he quickly found himself smiling at his ridiculous lover. "Fine, I can take the hint. Gimme a sec." Slowly and carefully he got to his feet and made his way over to the door. His flashlight picked out the features of the heavy barrier, barely touched by the cancerous rust that had eaten away at so many other parts of the abandoned factory.

"Can we force it?" Dee asked when Ryo hadn't said anything for a while. Eventually Ryo turned around, the expression on his face telling Dee that it was a no-go long before he shook his head.

"I doubt we'd have been able to force it _before_ we fell through the floor, never mind now. It's locked from the other side. We'll have to radio in."

"Great." Dee rolled his eyes. "It'll be _next_ New Year's Eve before we hear the end of this one."

"I thought pride was supposed to come _before_ the fall?"

"Very funny."

From his belt, Ryo unclipped his radio and spoke into it. "This is four-five-two, Detective McLain requesting assistance."

The radio crackled into life, the dispatcher's voice floating into the musty air after a brief silence. "We copy, Detective McLain. What's the problem?"

Ryo gave their location and a brief summary of what had happened. "So now we're trapped in the basement."

"Do either you or Detective Latener require emergency medical assistance?"

Ryo knew how stretched the medical workers would be as midnight approached. "No. Well, nothing that needs attending to urgently. Just a couple of officers from the precinct will be fine."

There was an ominous pause. "Just bear with me a moment, Detective McLain." Ryo turned to look at Dee and shrugged in response to his lover's deep frown. Whatever the hell it was that was going on, he didn't know either.

"Uh, Detective McLain?" The dispatcher sounded somewhat sheepish. "I've been instructed to advise you to sit tight and that some officers will be with you as soon as they can."

Sit tight? That definitely didn't sound good. "Okay, have you any idea how long that might be?"

"I'm not sure. Most are out acting as crowd control for the New Year's celebrations and my superior has designated your rescue as low priority since neither of you are injured. It'll be a few hours at best. Of course if you feel your physical status has changed then radio in again and your priority will be reassigned."

Ryo sighed heavily before he replied, knowing that the dispatcher was trying to help them by suggesting how they could get around orders. It was a nice gesture, but he wasn't about to lie to get them out of there.

"Okay, well thanks. We'll do that if it becomes necessary."

Once he'd ended the conversation, he turned around to face Dee, his lover's annoyance apparent before he'd even spoken.

"What the hell d'you do that for! You heard him – a few hours! We've gotta sit here for that long because you wouldn't say that one of us was hurt badly?"

"I'm not lying, Dee."

The dark haired man rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, I forgot you were Saint Goddamned Ryo."

"Fine," Ryo snapped, throwing the radio at him. "_You_ do it."

There was a silence that communicated their annoyance at each other. Emitting a brief grunt of pain, Ryo lowered himself onto the floor across from his partner. Dee was toying with the radio, but showed no signs of putting a revised call into the precinct. Just as he thought. Dee would pull rank no more than he would.

The silence allowed the sounds of the city to filter into their surroundings, bringing with it the anticipation of the New Year above the usual traffic. Midnight was just under an hour away and the party atmosphere was increasing as every minute passed. It seemed like everyone in New York had come out to see in the New Year, except them of course.

Dee rummaged in his pocket for a cigarette, opened the carton and found them all crushed beyond use. He threw them away in frustration. "This has gotta be the worst New Year ever."

With the pain in his ribs easing slightly, Ryo smiled. "You think?"

"You don't?" Dee looked at his lover in disbelief. "Uh, Ryo did you hit your head when you fell because I can't see how this can be anything other than a disaster."

Ryo chuckled. "We're alone, together. That's pretty good right?"

Dee didn't look altogether convinced. "Yeah, but we're stuck in this shithole for God knows how long while everyone else has a good time – "

"Last New Year's Eve."

"I'm sorry?"

"Do you remember last New Year's Eve?"

Dee made his thinking face. "Remind me."

"Three words – Bicky. Punch. Hospital."

Dee rolled his eyes, now fully on Ryo's wavelength. "Ah yeah, how could I forget? Stupid little punk gets trashed on my super-secret punch recipe, then falls over and cracks his head on the coffee table."

Ryo nodded in agreement. "Cue about five hours in the emergency room."

"_Five hours_? Are you on drugs, Ryo? It was seven, possibly nearer eight, most of which was spent sitting next to that drunken bum who kept singing Jingle Bells, only he'd forgotten most of the words. Hell, I'd have _put_ him in the emergency room if he hadn't already been there."

Ryo laughed as Dee ended his diatribe. "And yet that doesn't qualify as the worst New Year ever?"

The dark haired detective seemed to weigh this up for a moment. "It had its plus points – like Bicky puking his guts up and having to give me his ticket to the Knicks game."

"Dee!"

"Okay, okay, it was pretty bad too, but I still think this is worse." He looked at his lover and noted the dark eyes narrowing, unaware that Ryo was about to bring out the big guns.

"Okay – how about the year before."

"Which was?"

"The Aunt Imelda incident."

As Ryo had anticipated, Dee's eyes widened in horror. His face then morphed into an expression that looked like he had eaten something several millennia past its expiration date. "You know, I wish you'd warn me before you mentioned that."

Ryo feigned a look of innocence, but his eyes betrayed him as they sparkled with poorly disguised humour. "Aw, I'm sorry, Dee. I thought maybe you'd be able to look back on it and laugh now. It _was_ two years ago, after all."

Dee's expression was solemn now. "Trust me, they're life scars, Ryo. I honestly think it would have been easier to just tell her about us. I swear Elena was havin' a laugh at our expense, telling us to pretend to be straight while that vicious old bat was visiting."

"She wouldn't do that," Ryo replied in his aunt's defence. "Trust me, she's dealt with my Aunt Imelda enough times to know that playing it straight was the easier option." Ryo eased himself up and moved across the room to where Dee was sitting. Slowly, and still mindful of his potentially injured ribs, he lowered himself down to sit beside his partner. "D'you remember when JJ turned up drunk and started professing his undying love for you?"

"Ugh." Dee shook his head at the memory, although he was smiling. "That idiot. I'd lasted the whole weekend pretending to be your lodger, enduring unsavoury comments about why I didn't have a place of my own and how we both should probably be married at our age and then he nearly blew it. D'you think your aunt really believed he'd gotten the wrong person?"

Ryo snorted with laughter. "Probably not. I think she always had her doubts about you."

"Hey!"

"Aww, but _I_ love you." He reached out and gently tousled his lover's dark hair. "So have I persuaded you that this really isn't the worst New Year's Eve ever?"

"Well…"

"What? You're _still_ not convinced?" Ryo shook his head, although he knew that he had saved the best until last. "You're telling me that you've forgotten about our _first_ New Year together? I thought that would have topped your list for _sure_."

Dee grinned. "How could it? Our first anything as a couple is special to me."

"Even though Rose put you on desk duty for a month for ruining the precinct's New Year's Ball?"

Dee's expression soured. "Oh, right. _That_ New Year's Eve." He didn't have to look to know that Ryo was fighting a losing battle to keep his laughter in, and eventually he felt the corners of his mouth turning upwards. "I guess it _was_ pretty funny."

"Funny? It was hilarious!" Ryo chuckled, picturing Dee during that particular incident.

After his lover had played Santa for the children at the orphanage, Bicky had come across the costume at the apartment and thought it would be funny to glue the luxurious grey beard to Dee's face while he was sleeping. Unfortunately he had done it on the 31st of December – the day of Rose's prestigious event - and had used a type of glue that should not have come into contact with human skin, especially not in the quantity Bicky had used. The amused staff at the emergency room had informed a frantic Dee that it would come off in its own time and that forcing it was not an option unless he wanted to take a large portion of his skin with it. Dee liked his face, particularly _with _skin and so he resigned himself to keeping the beard.

However, if there was anyone that thought Bicky's practical joke was any more stupid than Dee did, it was Berkley Rose. Throughout the months' of organisation for his New Year's Eve Black Tie Ball, to be attended by New York's elite and powerful, he had made it plainly clear that he expected all his staff to be there – even those that he did not hold in high regard. For as many months, Dee had tried his best to get out of attending the event, until Rose, having grown tired of his complaining and ridiculous excuses, had issued an ultimatum – turn up or be transferred for an indefinite spell with the juvenile division. Knowing Rose was serious, Dee had swallowed his pride and hired his tux, all prepared to attend – until Bicky had turned him a potential fourth member of ZZ Top.

In one final bid for clemency, Dee had phoned the commissioner to explain, without going into specific detail, that he had had an accident and it would probably not be a good idea for him to attend the evening's proceedings. Rose had unequivocally stated that he didn't care if Dee had to bring a life support machine with him, he would _be at the ball._

With Ryo's help, he had trimmed the beard back as much as possible and dressed in his elegant tuxedo and bowtie, although it hardly made him inconspicuous – if anything, the trim made him look even more ridiculous, with the spiky bristles protruding from the lower half of his face in every direction.

They had arrived at the extravagant party to be greeted by some strange glances, and for once, it hadn't been because they were recognised as the two detectives that were involved with each other outside of work. Nothing, however, compared to the reaction of Berkley Rose when he discovered them nursing drinks in a quiet corner.

"What the…?" he began, eyes protruding slightly behind his gold framed spectacles. "Detective Latener, is this some kind of joke?"

"No! Well… yes, but not mine!" Dee hurried to add, seeing Rose's less than favourable response. "It was Bicky…"

"Detective!" Rose snapped. "I expected you to show up with some second-rate tuxedo in the hope that I would send you home, but this… well, this surpasses anything I thought you were capable of."

"But – "

"Detective, you're dismissed. And before you think this perverse little joke has allowed you to get one over on me, I am delighted to inform you that you'll be on desk duties for the next month."

"But you see – "

"Latener! Go now before I put you on _permanent _desk duties!"

Dee shot one final glance at his lover before he downed the last of his wine and stalked away. Rose shook his head in disbelief, addressing Ryo once the other man had gone.

"I'd like you to come and talk to some people for me. There are some journalists here and I'd like a couple of _intelligent_ soundbites from one of our officers."

Ryo nodded and glumly made after his superior. So much for spending New Year with Dee – their first as a couple too. "He didn't do it on purpose, you know."

Rose stopped and turned to face the man he wished would be smart enough to see him as a better choice than that moron Latener. "I know."

"You know?"

Rose nodded. "I know because despite all his faults, Latener knows he's onto a good thing with you and I know he'd never have intentionally shown you up like this. I won't ask what you see in him, Detective McLain, but" – he cut off Ryo's imminent protest – "if you'll spend a little time schmoozing with the right people… I'll let you disappear too so you can get home to see the New Year in with Kenny Rogers."

He looked at Ryo who attempted to look indignant, failed, and burst out laughing.

"Thank you, Commissioner."

Reliving Rose and Ryo's conversation set the two trapped detectives off into fits of laughter, so much so that they didn't hear the approaching cops on the floor above them. Only the beams of the flashlights alerted them to the fact that their rescue had eventually arrived.

"Hey! You guys want us to go away?" one of the uniformed officers asked. "You sound like you're havin' a pretty good time down there."

It took a moment before either man could find the breath to speak. "Glad you could make it," Dee said eventually, still grinning. "We figured this was the perfect place to party, you know? If you wanna join us, the door's over there."

For a brief moment, the two men were alone again as their saviours went to find an easier way to access the basement and the door that they were currently locked behind. The lull in activity allowed the sounds of the city to filter through once again, bringing with it the symphony of voices making the final countdown to midnight. When the cheer went up, the two men turned to each other and smiled.

"Happy New Year, Dee."

"Same to you, Ryo. And you know what?"

"What?"

"You're right. This hasn't been the worst New Year ever."

Ryo smiled as he reached up and stroked his lover's cheek. "Okay, so which one did you pick?"

"None of them."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Dee caught Ryo's hand and brought it to his lips, kissing it several times before he continued. "Because they all involved you and anything you're involved in couldn't be a 'worst'. Interesting, maybe, but definitely not a 'worst'."

They both turned as the door in front of them burst open, the two uniformed officers having successfully destroyed the lock on the other side. They both coughed at the resulting dust, their noses wrinkled in disgust at their surroundings.

"Sorry we couldn't get to you sooner," one of them said as he helped Dee to his feet.

"S'okay," Dee replied with a grin. "Actually you're early. The dispatcher said you wouldn't get to us for several hours."

"Still, it must be pretty annoying to have been stuck in here missing all the fun."

"Oh, I dunno," Dee said, glancing across at Ryo and winking. "I've quite enjoyed the peace and quiet for once. Haven't you, Ryo?"

"Definitely," his lover replied with a chuckle, earning them both strange glances from the men that had been sent to rescue them. "I wonder what we'll be doing next New Year's Eve?"

"Dunno," Dee answered, a mischievous twinkle in his deep green eyes. "Maybe we should go for something _really_ low-key – like Bungee jumping."

"Or alligator wrestling."

"Sky diving – without a parachute."

"Ooh, ooh, I got it - swimming with sharks!"

The uniformed cops watched the two detectives, chatting animatedly and laughing like idiots as they walked out of the room, the dark haired man leaning on his partner for support. Their clothes were ripped and dirty, their bodies bruised and battered, but they didn't seem to notice. Once they'd gone, the officers turned to each other and shrugged before they made after them, clearly failing to see how the two men could be in such high spirits after the evening they'd had.

END


End file.
